


The Longest Journey

by KisekiMa



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, final - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Multiple Timelines, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sephiroth is a summon, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27388057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KisekiMa/pseuds/KisekiMa
Summary: “Won’t you help us?” Yseault clenches her fists in frustration, staring at the bracelet on her wrist. The silver Materia glows faintly in response. Something similar to a sigh reaches the girl’s ears soon after.“Summon me.”“Wha…” She stops mid-sentence, recognizing that voice. Still amazed that her desperate request has been answered, she asks quickly: “But how?”“Just say my name. It’s…”…One day four teenagers with a stolen Materia go to the mountains to see a Nibel Dragon.It soon turns out that this is a very unusual Materia. And that the mother of crazy twin sisters has a story to tell – a story of the last Cetra Priestess and her Guardian, travelling through multiple dimensions to find a timeline where the world does not end.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough/Sephiroth, Cloud Strife/Original Female Character(s), Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough, others
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	The Longest Journey

**Author's Note:**

> First, it's nice to be here again. I caught a nasty virus (we all know which one) and still haven't fully recovered. Honestly, there were moments when I couldn't lift a glass of water, but they're mostly gone... Still, it's hard for me to do anything creative and it takes a lot of time.
> 
> So I decided to publish an old draft, mostly to show that I'm still alive (barely!). I have like three chapters ready (but first want to know what You think). I want to finish all my stories, so don't worry about them. I just need more time and hope You understand it.
> 
> Also, I always wanted to write AerithxSephiroth, so here it is! I will experiment with tenses a bit - Aerith's journey will be written in past tense, but the story of the silver-haired twins will be in present tense. Hope it will work as I imagined it.
> 
> So... have fun reading and please tell me what You think!

* * *

“Reinvent yourself over and over and over and over and over until you find home. There is no timeline for the soul.”  
― Malebo Sephodi

* * *

“Cloud’s late,” the girl states the obvious, waving her feet in the air.

She has the same big green eyes of the Gainsboroughs, the same nose and crazy segmented bangs, almost fully covering her cheeks. The only difference is the color of these long, beautiful strands – not brown, like her mother’s, but silver. Now, under the gentle touch of moonlight, they seem to emit their own, otherworldly glow.

“He’s trying to convince Tifa to come with us, I guess,” her sister replies flatly. They look almost identical, even their closest friends are confused sometimes. The subtle differences in their daily behavior make identification a lot easier for someone who sees them often.

The first one, Sophie, is clearly a warrior type: an impatient, lively spirit, always provoking fights with other kids. And – to the frustration of almost all the boys in the town – winning them with disturbing ease.

Sophie also claims to be the older one, although no more than five minutes, which gives her right to lead their little group of friends. Her twin sister, Yseault, doesn’t care, with her mind constantly focused on basically everything that can be discovered, mastered and used as a base for spells. Their mother says sometimes that Yseault will be a great scientist one day, just like her grandfather.

Even now the girl frowns, focused on a small bracelet in her hand. The main pattern of its delicate silver carving is ivy - it surrounds a single ornamental wing. A small orb is trapped in the centre of this trinket, and sometimes it shines with mysterious, magical light. To most observers it looks like nothing more than an old, tarnished jewelry, probably a family heirloom, but Yseault knows better than that.

She can recognize Materia when she sees one. Although her mother doesn’t use it, at least not in the presence of the girls, she talks to it sometimes. And, to Yseault’s amazement, the Materia reacts to its owner’s voice, even answers some questions when it feels like it.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Since when Materia has its own will or feelings? Since when Materia is able to talk? It should be nothing more than condensed knowledge of the Ancients, a spell of some sort, right?

Right?

If mother can chat with this summon, or whatever it truly is, both sisters should be able to do the same. After all, they’re pureblood Cetras. If the thing trapped inside belongs to the Planet, they will find a way to communicate, sooner or later, won’t they?

To answer all these questions, Yseault decides to take some drastic measures. She involves Sophie in her evil plan to ‘borrow’ the bracelet and test it in specific conditions. The rumors about a dragon, sleeping in one of the caves close to the town, arrived just in time to begin the experiment.

“Will she come?” Sophie’s voice barely reaches Yseault, who’s lost in thoughts again, so deeply that she forgets to breathe.

“Who?” – she asks numbly, having no true desire to know the answer.

A strong kick in the ribs wakes her up in an instant. Sophie doesn’t like to be ignored.

“Tifa. Do you think she’ll come?”

“I have no idea! And since when you care so much about Tifa, huh? It’s Cloud you’re staring at with your buttery eyes.” Yseault sticks out her tongue, mocking her sister even more.

Sophie tries to kick her again, but this time Yseault is smarter and evades the blow on time with a triumphant smile. Cloud is the main reason of all their conflicts, mostly because they both are madly in love with him since the day they met.

The boy is either dense, and unable to notice their affection, or he’s just trying hard not to ruin their friendship. The girls play along for now, exercising the teenagers’ right to remain careless as long as possible... and their quiet life in Nibelheim goes on, from one crazy quest to another.

Their quarrel lasts only for a moment – the girls don’t want to wake up the townspeople. It’s a secret operation, after all, code-named ‘Nibel Dragon’. So they sit together under the water tower, staring at the stubborn silver orb that doesn’t react to any form of magic or mental tricks.

“It didn’t say anything,” Sophie states the obvious again, more than disappointed.

“I know, right?” Yseault sighs, slowly losing patience. She doesn’t like the idea of being defeated in a battle of willpowers by a magical bracelet. “Damn, I’m running out of ideas. Maybe it’s broken?”

“Or maybe you suck at magic?”

“Shut up.”

“Why, because I’m right?”

“I said shut up.” Yseault presses her hand to Sophie’s lips, silencing the incautious girl. “They’re coming.”

Sophie listens for a moment, nods and smiles wickedly. Both sisters stand up without a word and take positions on the water tower. They almost burst out laughing, seeing Tifa’s pitiful attempts to remain unnoticed.

Their prey comes straight into the trap. When the moment is right, Sophie silently flows down, like a silver specter, right behind Tifa’s back.

“Boo,” she whispers in a voice too deep and frightening for a girl her age, almost scaring her victim to death.

“Not fair!” Tifa angrily knocks the gravel. Some time ago she began her melee training with master Zangan, and since then she tries to defeat Sophie whenever she has the occasion to do so. Being detected so easily must be truly frustrating for her. “If you keep cheating like that, I won’t be playing with you anymore!”

She saddened even more, realizing that her father would be proud hearing that. ‘Two silver-haired troublemakers and some antisocial boy with chocobo hair don’t look like a proper company for someone of her status’, he keeps repeating over and over again. But the forbidden fruit is the sweetest, so Tifa usually tags along. Years of getting into troubles together - and suffering various kinds of punishments later - shaped the bonds between the kids into something unique and solid.

And Cloud? He just doesn’t care. He always tries his best, but knows his own limitations. He never complains or shows resentment, just enjoys the company of his best friends. That’s why the Gainsborough sisters fell for him so easily…

“Girls, it’s getting late, you know?” Cloud looks at the night sky and smiles briefly, before asking for the last time: “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Of course we are.” Sophie smiles, mostly to annoy Tifa.

“We're not,” Yseault interrupts, vigorously shaking her head. “Actually, it’s a very bad idea.” She sighs and puts the bracelet on her wrist. “But we’ve already decided to go, so we’re going. It doesn’t mean you must join us, you know, it’s dangerous and…”

The rest seems to ignore Yseault’s typical speech and proceeds in silence to the edge of the city.

“So it’s about time for me to say it.” Clouds smiles when they enter the path into the mountains.

“Please don’t!” The girls say it together, in a high-pitched voices, like a weird musical trio.

“But I really want to,” Cloud admits honestly; it’s clear he’s not given up yet. “It’s a perfect occasion to say it!”

“Cloud, please…” Tifa rolls her eyes, seeing that the Gainsborough twins don’t intend to protest anymore. _They’re too soft on this guy_ , she concludes.

“Ok, then.” Cloud smiles again, takes a deep breath… “Let’s mosey!”

And he proceeds to the mountains, like a self-proclaimed leader of their little party.

Sophie sighs and follows him first, easily keeping up the pace at the narrow, stony path.

“Why you must always say that?” - she asks when they’re already far from the town.

“Because he’s a country bumpkin!” Yseault yells at them from behind. She’s angry, no doubt about it: at her sister, for being such a lovey-dovey (it doesn’t fit her at all!), at Cloud in general and at herself, for not being able to activate the mysterious Materia. She has a strange feeling that the entity hidden within the bracelet is watching her, can see and hear everything, but it’s just mean and decides to stay silent.

“Hey, you’re living here as well!” Cloud’s voice sounds accusingly, but the boy doesn’t turn back to look at the girls. The path is getting dangerous, so he needs to focus and tread carefully.

“But we were born in…” Yseault suddenly realizes she doesn’t know where exactly. Why mother didn’t tell them such things? “We’re from… Midgar, I suppose!”

Even if Cloud answers, no one can hear it. The wind is stronger in the mountains and soon the kids must hide in one of the caves.

“Ok… What now?” Sophie looks around, at the multiple corridors and smaller chambers, leading probably deep into the heart of the mountain.

“Don’t you know?” Tifa tastes the moment of triumph against her rival and demonstratively lights a match. “In the caves a flame will always show you the way.”

She tries every tunnel from left to right, searching for the tiniest breeze.

“This one,” she announces proudly and rushes into the tunnel. But Sophie is a bit faster and they bump into each other in the narrow passage.

What’s worse, neither of the two wants to let go – they glare at each other like wild cats in a small cage. Feeling that a serious fight can start at any moment, Cloud sneaks between the girls and jumps into the tunnel, taking the role of the leader on himself. Honestly, Yseault is grateful for it.

They descend deeper and deeper into the mountain. It’s get darker, colder – and scarier, although none of them would ever admit that – as they walk the narrow underground paths, bathed only in green, fluorescent lights of minerals and thin streams of Mako.

“It sucks.” As usual, Sophie is first to say what everyone else is thinking. It’s not fun anymore to proceed into the unknown darkness, but they’ve already went too far to get back the same way. “Feels like we’ve been walking for hours. I bet we almost reached the other side of the mountain…”

“Shush.” Yseault stops her sister and freezes in a weird position between the rocks. “Can you hear it?”

The twins have much sharper senses than the other two, so Sophie nods vigorously, but Tifa and Cloud only hopelessly shake their heads. Yseault shows them to move as quiet as they can and, after few steps into the wide corridor, they too can hear something that reminds them of a napping dog…

Well, a really, really big napping dog.

“It’s huge,” Cloud notices, carefully entering the cave. The dragon is sleeping no more than five meters from their current position, but none of the kids seem to notice how reckless their actions are. “How did it get so deep underground?”

“Flied through the tunnel above our heads, probably?” Yseault looks up, trying to prove this theory, but it’s too dark to say for sure, even for her eyes of a nocturnal predator.

“Ok, we saw what we wanted to see, but what are we going to do now?” Tifa tries to act cool, but it’s obvious that she’s as excited as the rest. It’s the first time she sees a real dragon, after all.

“The current is strong here, so there must be a way out nearby.” Sophie narrows her eyes, trying to detect the right tunnel. “There, behind the dragon’s leg. We must be very quiet and just pass it by.”

“Well, after you then.”

Sophie inhales deeply and takes the lead. No one dares to protest this time – the kids follow the strongest girl obediently, like a silent line of focused shadows. It seems quite easy though, even in the narrow passage near the beast’s head. Sophie is already sure that the dragon won’t wake up even if she pokes it in the nose…

“Ooooops!” That’s everything she manages to say, when a huge eye with a slit pupil opens right in front of her face.

Suddenly, something burns Yseault’s wrist. It’s the bracelet, now emitting hot, silver light.

“Don’t stand so close to each other, the beast will burn you all in one blast. Scatter, quick!”

The girl blinks, amazed and happy at the same time. So the weird Materia has spoken at last! The masculine voice is deep and decisive, cold and confident. Its owner got used to giving commands, for sure…

“What are you waiting for? There’s a slit in the wall on the right, you must get out of here quickly. Now run!”

Yseault repeats the man’s orders and runs to the exit. Sophie nods, then pushes Cloud in front of her, showing him the way. She grabs Tifa’s hand and soon all four of them escape safely to the mountains.

But the beast is angry and persistent, it crushes the stones with its head and follows the kids outside. Soon they’re trapped on the edge of an landslide.

“What now?” Tifa asks, and almost cries out in panic, when the dragon raises its head and takes a deep breath.

They soon will be burnt to crisps and they know it.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the edge of Nibelheim, in a small house full of flowers, a woman with a pink ribbon in her hair nervously glances through the window.

She can hear the voices of her ancestors, warning her that the hope of the entire race, the two Cetra girls, are in mortal danger as they speak. They urge the Priestess of the Planet to act, immediately, to use her powers, save them. Save them, save them, SAVE THEM!

And she almost jumps out of her seat in a sudden panic attack. But then she reprimands herself and closes her eyes. ‘ _They’re not alone’_ , she says, trying to calm down the spirits of the Planet.

One deep breath later she’s staring through the window again, much calmer and full of hope. She smiles, when a column of light suddenly lightens up the night sky somewhere in the mountains.

“Took you long enough to show up.” She giggles, pressing one finger to the glass in a loving gesture. “So you’re finally ready…”

* * *

Cloud heroically tries to shield the girls with his own body, but Sophie scolds him for giving up without a fight. She grabs her training sword again and attacks, hoping to distract the monster.

It’s brave but pointless, Yseault concludes, angry at herself for being useless. How long can Sophie dance around the dragon without being smashed?

Cloud and Tifa try to help Sophie the best they can, throwing stones at the reptile. But it won’t change the fact that they’re trapped on the edge of the cliff. The only way out is blocked by few tons of hot scales, wings and claws.

“Won’t you help us?” Yseault clenches her fists in frustration, staring at the bracelet on her wrist. The silver Materia glows faintly in response. Something similar to a sigh reaches the girl’s ears soon after.

“Summon me.”

“Wha…” She stops mid-sentence, recognizing that voice. Still amazed that her desperate request has been answered, she asks quickly: “But how?”

“Just say my name. It’s…”

The dragon roars suddenly, angered by Sophie, who has just poked its leg a bit too aggressively. The hurricane of waving wings sends the screaming kids on the stones. Yseault is not certain if she heard the name correctly in this terrible noise.

“S-Sephiroth?”

The spell activates, draining the girl’s energy, blinding her with a burst of lightning. Everything stops for a second and a tall man in a leather coat appears between the kids and the dragon. Or maybe he’s an angel, floating in the air on a single black wing?

He glances at Yseault and smiles, almost gently, then materializes the longest sword they’ve ever seen. The dragon, pierced by this outstanding blade with terrifying ease, doesn’t even realize that it’s already dead. The summoned creature vanishes in the same moment, having nothing more to say or do after his job is done.

“What was that?” Cloud is first to get up from the stones, battered but not seriously wounded. He helps Tifa and rushes to Sophie, whose minor scratches have already healed. He shakes his head, amazed for the thousandth time how difficult it is to hurt his silver-haired friends.

 _But they’re not immortal_ , he realizes, seeing how pale and exhausted Yseault is after using spells too powerful for her to handle. _Yet. She’ll be an outstanding mage in the future_ , Cloud is sure about it.

“I’ve never heard of such summon before,” Tifa says, wiping the dust off her clothes. “Is it some kind of a local god?”

“I… have no idea.” Yseault stares at the orb again, like if she’s just seen it for the first time in her life.

* * *

After a huge turmoil, including a rescue expedition to the mountains and lots of yelling, the troublesome bunch gets transported back to the town.

The twins have no time to say goodbye to Cloud or Tifa, because their mother waits for them at the mountain’s path. She is silent all the way home, which usually scares the sisters more than any possible outburst of anger. It means that she’s already plotting something they won’t like.

Already at home, she sits at her favorite place near the windows, places the weird Materia on her lap, and meaningfully glances at the girls.

“Well? You have nothing to say to me?”

Feeling like she has just bumped into a solid wall of soundless resistance, the woman sighs.

“And you? You’ve been silent for long enough, don’t you think?”

It takes a moment to realize that she speaks to the Materia in the bracelet. The mysterious man inside it hesitates for a while, then reluctantly admits:

“Don’t be too harsh, Aerith. They were very brave… for a bunch of kids.”

Aerith sighs again, then chuckles, defeated and not even half as angry as before.

“Of course they were, but I didn’t ask you to defend them… Whatever.” She finally looks at her daughters, with a special smile that means only troubles. “Now, ladies, if you’re old enough to steal my Materia…”

“We only borrowed it!” – Sophie protests fiercely, but her sister mutters only quiet: “Sorry, Mom” under her breath.

“…you’re also old enough to hear the whole story.”

* * *

* * *

**Next: The Cry of the Planet**

Years after Meteor and geostigma the world has ended.

With its last attempt to save itself, the Planet sends its last hope - the Cetra Priestess and her Guardian - to a journey through countless timelines.

But the price of miracles is steep – and who exactly is going to pay it?


End file.
